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Vintage Lisa Frank Bad Ass-ery

Confession: I was a HUGE fan of Lisa Frank when I was a kiddo and to be entirely truthful, I still am today.


I'm not talking about the new shit they have out at Target and Wal-Mart now.  It is just that--shit.  I am struggling to describe it.  The styles they have now scream, "the search for more money" rather than the delightful styles they once had in the past.


Are you fucking kidding me?  This makes me cringe. I'm going to get a seizure from all this shit.
I'm not a fan of the little girl alien-eye bullshit.  Get it together, Lisa Frank.  This shit sucks.
The old-school Lisa Frank designs, specifically the sticker line, was bomb back in the day.  I'm thinking more along the line of the 90's.  The fun, creative, silly stuff.  I loved it when I was a kid and I still love it now, 20+ years later.


Cleo-catra.  Classic.  Her pendant is the shit.

All of the key players.  Ballerina bunnies, Hollywood bears, and rainbow unicorns.


90's food court epic-ness.
I don't mean to sound like a whiny ass about the new stickers.  I really don't.  But you have to admit--there's something fun and whimsical about the vintage Lisa Frank designs of the past.  It hurt the heart a little to see Lisa Frank turn to the dark side (and by that, I mean rainbow-barfing, money-grubby, and  obnoxious).


God, these stickers always gave me so much joy!  Toys 'R Us was such a wonderland when I was a kiddo.  While my brothers were digging in the video games or X-Men figures, I would make a beeline straight to the check out counter.  On the end caps were Lisa Frank sticker packs.  They couldn't have been more than $5, but inside was a mystery collection of stickers and prizes.  There was a cellophane circle on the front of the pack so you could shake around the stickers to spy on what was in the pack.  Every single one was different.  Sometimes they'd even come with plastic stencils, buttons; prizes like you would find in a Cracker Jack box.  Only this wasn't full of cracker jacks...it was full of awesome.


I had quite the sticker collection when I was younger but alas--I'm not sure where it ended up.  I had a pink tin sticker box that held all of my treasures, but hormones and teenage-hood pulled me in a different direction, which means they're either in the attic or the basement of my old house, where they've more-than-likely fallen victim to aging in a damp environment.


That's ok though.  With Google, I'm never too far away from seeing those gems of my past.  I even had the gumption to look online to see if you could buy the little mystery packs, but I never did find any.  The only thing close to that was the limited edition vintage Lisa Frank sticker pack from Urban Outfitters.  I missed it by a year and have yet to see anyone selling one.  To be honest, it's all good.  I'm getting back into creating art (sans Trunchbull) and may do a painting homage to vintage Lisa Frank. 


Stay tuned.







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